Official Website

Nearby Subway Stops

Prices

Payment Methods

Special Features

Business Lunch

Classic NY

Fireplace

Good for Groups

Kid-Friendly

Live Music

Lunch

Private Dining/Party Space

Alcohol

Full Bar

Reservations

Recommended

Profile

This venue is closed.

Open since 1978, this genteel Italian restaurant is older than most of the beer-swilling crowd at the nearby Second Avenue pubs. The dapper owner, Bruno Selimaj, minds the door; his eager waiters whisk out the complimentary antipasti before your napkin’s on your lap. Amid dusky peach walls and the clatter of heavy cutlery, savor crumbly Parmesan Reggiano; fried-then-dried, purplish-black smoky zucchini; and salty sopressatta. After this savory welcome, old-world standard entrees like ravioli with chopped veal and tomato sauce lack luster. Seafood like rare tuna on a bed of broccoli rabe benefits from the simple touch. Bruno’s owes its longevity to its regulars: UES matriarchs trailing perfume, back-slapping men chatting in Italian, and blending in well with the Art Deco murals of broad-shouldered gents and long-necked dames clinking Champagne glasses against a glittering cityscape. Life further imitates art upstairs in the sultry piano bar, where a Sinatra-esque crooner runs his fingers over a baby grand, silhouetted against the leafy treetops strung with twinkling white lights. — AnneLise Sorensen